Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem is an Emirati businessman who for decades headed DP World, the Dubai government-controlled ports and logistics company that operates the Jebel Ali port and more than sixty ports and terminals worldwide. He earlier chaired the Dubai World conglomerate, which then included the property developer Nakheel, builder of the Palm and World artificial islands.¹² In 2019 an internal JPMorgan compliance review of Jeffrey Epstein's correspondence described him as a close associate of Epstein and "a senior UAE official involved in ownership of the Dubai Ports."³ He was replaced as DP World's chairman and chief executive on February 13, 2026, three days after Representative Ro Khanna read his name on the floor of the House from redacted pages of the Justice Department's Epstein release.¹

Epstein Correspondence

A January 2012 DP World email chain in Epstein's files forwarded a letter from the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey confirming that it would induct bin Sulayem into its 19th Annual International Maritime Hall of Fame at the Grand Hyatt New York on May 9, 2012, before "350-380 CEOs and senior executives." DP World's chief operating officer, Anil Wats, asked him which guests he wished to invite. The chain reached Epstein under a cover note, its sender not shown, reading: "Dear Jeffrey Will you be able to attend and can you suggest me names of others I can invite to sit at my table."⁴

On November 29, 2016 Epstein's assistant, Lesley Groff, wrote to Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab: "I understand you and Sultan will be meeting with Jeffrey on Wed. Nov. 30th up at Harvard...can you please let me know your timing? Also, this will be at Martin Nowak's office at 1 Brattle Square?" Ito replied that "Sultan will be with me at the Media Lab," that he was "locking in a bunch of meetings for Sultan at the Media Lab from 9:30AM-11AM," and that "Jeffrey originally told me that he was going to drop by the Media Lab at 11AM and then leave the Lab or Martin's at 11:30AM." A DP World employee in the chairman's office wrote that bin Sulayem would arrive in Boston on the evening of November 30, stay at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and hold meetings on December 1; Ito's assistant told Groff that Ito planned to leave the Media Lab with the party around 11 a.m. for Harvard.⁵ Martin Nowak's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard had been founded with a 6.5 million dollar gift from Epstein.⁶

After Epstein's July 2019 arrest, JPMorgan's compliance staff conducted an internal review code-named "Project Jeep." Its October 2019 summary of Epstein's emails, quoted by the United States Virgin Islands in its 2023 suit against the bank, stated: "Jeffrey Epstein appears to maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew the [Duke] of York and Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British Government. He also appears to have a close relationship with Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem who is a senior UAE official involved in ownership of the Dubai Ports."³

Disclosure and Removal

Bin Sulayem's name was redacted in the documents released by the Justice Department under the Epstein Files Transparency Act in January 2026. On February 10, 2026 Khanna identified him on the floor of the House, together with five other men whose names had been redacted, saying the government had shielded their names "for no apparent reason"; the department then partially unredacted some of the pages he cited.¹ Al Jazeera reported that the released correspondence covered deals, a visit by bin Sulayem to Epstein's island, the sharing of business and political contacts, and salacious remarks about women, including an exchange with bin Sulayem's email address in which Epstein wrote, "I loved the torture video."¹ The Associated Press reported that some emails referred to pornography, sexual massages, and escorts, and that the emails did not appear to implicate bin Sulayem in Epstein's alleged crimes.² CNN reported that his name appeared thousands of times in the release, that Epstein had described him as "funny," "educated," "a master," and a "best and trusted friend," and that bin Sulayem had not been accused by authorities of any wrongdoing.⁷

In the same week the British government's development investor, British International Investment, and the Canadian pension fund La Caisse, which had invested 2.5 billion dollars in 2022 in Jebel Ali Port, the Jebel Ali Free Zone, and the National Industries Park, paused new investment with DP World.¹ On February 13, 2026 the Dubai Media Office announced, without naming bin Sulayem, that Essa Kazim, governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre, had been appointed chairman of DP World and Yuvraj Narayan, its former chief financial officer, group chief executive. British International Investment said the same day that it would resume investment alongside the company.¹² DP World did not respond to the Associated Press's requests for comment.²